Community is one of the most important things in the blog world. When you break everything down to its most simplest parts – you, people, and the internet remain. You see, without readers your blog is a journal and thus really not a blog. HOWEVER there is no magical number of readers that makes your blog real. Your family who reads to stay updated, your friends from college who love looking at your little ones, the community of other bloggers who read yours for daily inspiration, the stories you write for your kids to read when they are older, the pageviews & comments, no matter how large or how little, are all part of your audience.
Today I want to talk to you about networking and encourage you reach out and build your community. This is not to blow up your pageviews or skyrocket your bloglovin’ followers but to truly connect with others. I want to encourage you that your reach is valuable. That the people who read your blog, comment on your posts, and pin your pictures are important in your community. Authentic growth means so much more than any artificial numbers or scams. And people LOVE blogs that a “real” because we can trust them. While trying to grow your blog, don’t lose yourself. Because you matter and your readers matter. Here are some tips for authentic networking & growth!
COMMENT ON OTHER BLOGS
PARTICIPATE IN COMMUNITY EVENTS
SWAP BLOG BUTTONS & ADVERTISE
- Only ask to swap with blogs that are around your same size, smaller, or who have a similar audience & are open to swaps. Some blogs who have large readerships (blogs like A beautiful Mess, CaseyLeigh, Living in Yellow, etc. ) only can do paid advertising because of the large number of brands and blogs who want to work with them. They put a lot of hard work and effort into getting their blogs to where they are today. Don’t under value their work by asking for a free $100 advertising space.
- If you want to work out something with larger brands, you can ask if they would be willing to give you a discount on advertising in exchange for a free ad on your blog. This way you acknowledge that their readership is much larger but that you are still interested in working with them.
ADVERTISING: The other way of getting your button out there is by purchasing advertising space. You may see this as “selling out” or “buying your readers” but I strongly disagree. First off, you are never making anyone follow your blog so you are not really buying anyone. Secondly, how are people going to find you if you are not around? Advertising puts you in front of a whole new readership and is a vehicle for you to connect with new readers and friends. There are many different advertising packages and the vary depending on the blog.
Related: Purchasing Advertising Space
ALWAYS RESPOND TO EMAILS & COMMENTS
I know this one sounds a little legalistic and the truth is that I don’t even do this all the time. I wanted to say always to emphasize the importance. If people are in your little corner of the world interacting with you, you need to acknowledge them or they will leave. As I have grown it has been harder to reply to every email & comment but I made it a priority when I was a smaller blogger to respond to every comment and I try to do it as much as I can even now.This does not need to be an instant thing or even a day of action. I give myself a week to respond to emails and comments so that I don’t go crazy trying to reply to all my comments as they are coming in. This also does not mean that every comment needs a reply but it does mean that if someone comments on your blog every day, you should have interacted with them at least a couple times.Your readers understand that you are busy and you don’t just sit at home waiting for an email or comment to come in to reply to and they will give you more grace than you do yourself! But if you want to create a life giving & inspirational community, you need to give life and say hello.
REACH OUT
Don’t let the no replies or the “I am sorry but not this time” get you down. If you never ask, than you never know! I am finding this out more and more – people are excited about being contacted and usually are up for something fun. Be creative, organized, and confident in your requests and people will jump on board!
WHAT ARE YOUR TIPS FOR GROWING COMMUNITY?
Obviously you cannot do it all, but you can take steps toward growing and nurturing that community. Take care of the people who are already there and invite others in! I believe in you and I know that you can do it!
xoxo, elizabeth
love this post! you always have great tips, (some of which I was just contemplating last night in need of answers… so thanks 🙂
I love that “perfect timing” !!! Be encouraged and be bold!
Great advice! I definitely ebb and flow when it comes to being active on social media, commenting on blogs and responding to comments on my own blog. This post motivated me to start connecting in more ways!
I am glad you are inspired! Give yourself grace but make sure you are acknowledging your readers!
Awesome tips! I’m getting better and better at commenting on other blogs. I have to make a button in order to be able to swap or advertise, so I’m gonna probably make that soon!
Good job! Megs of Rivers and Roads can also make a button for you! http://www.riversandroads.me/p/sponsor.html
Thanks for the info! I’ll check that out.
I cannot even count the number of times I have gone to comment on a post, clicked on the comment before mine and got lost in finding new friends! Commenting is a wonderful way to connect 🙂 Thanks for sharing your tips!
I love that about comments too!!
I’ve been reaching out to bloggers lately and asking them about their growth and how they built a community, so I really appreciate this post! I’ve had such hit and miss luck with sponsoring but when it has worked, it’s worked out really well. I guess it helps you have made a connection beforehand. Last comment, can I have that dessert??! yum!
Thanks lady! And those are my Monster Cookies!!! https://oakandoats.com/2014/06/mayberry-monster-cookies.html
SO SO SO glad I came across this post! just what i’ve been needing to read! Thank you!
http://thebudusadventure.blogspot.mx/
I am glad that it encouraged you!
Love this! Thanks for taking the time to give us baby bloggers great tips! 🙂
Of course! It is a joy!
is there a way to find out a blog’s size without asking and offending? or will people not be offended?
Great question! Most blogs have their stats on their advertising page or you can click on their social media buttons and see how many followers they have on bloglovin, facebook, etc. If they do not have their numbers on their advertising page (or if they don’t even have an adverting page) then they are probably smaller in size of readership.
Reach out to them! You don’t need to ask them how many followers they do have but you can offer to trade with them – you most likely will not offend them.
If you emailed A beautiful Mess and asked to swap, you are both obviously at different levels and that could come across as disrespectful – that is kinda what I am getting at!
good point. i haven’t thought of doing the swap before, but now i will! thanks!
I am very new to the blogging world so this has been so helpful! Thank you!
WAHOO! So glad it blessed and encouraged you!
These are great tips! I love making connections in this blogging world and it’s fun to read what has worked for others. The only thing I don’t totally agree with is you saying that smaller bloggers shouldn’t ask larger bloggers for blog swaps. Sure, some larger bloggers may get offended but, for me, I love swapping with smaller blogs (I know I’m in no way a BIG blog) because I love helping them grow and it often does bring additional traffic to my blog. Sometimes small blogs have the best readers. 😉
You are right but I guess I was just going with the blogs who have large readerships and only do paid adverting – blogs like A beautiful Mess, CaseyLeigh, Living in Yellow, etc. I didn’t want people to get discouraged by only reaching out to the big blogs they love that don’t do swaps and come across like they don’t value the time and effort put into the blog to pay for advertising when they just want it for free….
But maybe I will edit that a bit so it doesn’t seam scary or rude. Thanks for the advice!
Haha. Yeah, I’d call those HUGE blogs, not big ones. 😉 But you’re totally right that blogs like that would not be willing to swap!
I reworded it to be more clear. Please take a look and see if that comes off better! Thanks!!
XOXO
I think that’s perfect and doesn’t come off quite so scary. 😉